As advised by lawyers, separating and/or divorcing parents often make false allegations of domestic violence (DV) in the form of a restraining order to evict an innocent parent from the home, interfere with contact with child/ren, and then file for temporary custody (virtually never temporary). False police reports are often obtained and used in DV Court...called "information only reports", but contain a fabricated incident of DV and thus a serious crime if and when exposed.

Judge
Manno Schurr Brings Nursing Background to Courtroom

Judge Valerie R.
Manno Schurr, 11th Judicial Circuit of Florida. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge
Valerie Manno Schurr had been a nurse for a dozen years when she passed the
Florida Bar exam. She kept working in the operating room.

"One day we had a new surgeon come in, and they said, 'You
know there's a lawyer in the room. You better be careful,' " she said.
After the operation, "the head nurse came to me and said, 'You know you
made that guy very nervous. He didn't like that there was a lawyer in the
room.' "

The Miami Beach native pursued nursing right after graduating from
North Miami High School, urged on by her sister, who was already a nurse.

"I couldn't decide what I wanted to do, and she said, 'Why
don't you go to nursing school? It's a great job. You're going to love it.' " Manno Schurr
recalled. "And I did. I really did. Nursing is a wonderful, wonderful
profession."

She started in oncology at Mount Sinai Hospital.

It was emotionally trying. Her mother died of breast cancer at 37
when Manno Schurr was 5. Caring for cancer patients took its toll.

"You're just trying to prolong their lives," she said.
"I wanted to take care of a patient, get them better and never see them
again. These people kept coming back and coming back. They come in. They get
diagnosed. You give them chemo, and they would get worse and worse and
worse."

Even though some were cured, she said the work was still painful
for her. After two years, she got reassigned to the intensive care unit, then
the recovery room. "Then I got cross-trained to work in the operating
room," Manno Schurr said.

"I did paperwork. I'd get the patient from the holding area,
check the band—'Are you so and so? Are you having this surgery?' You have to
make sure that everybody knew what we were doing," she said.

She served as the operating room's official historian and monitor,
recording every event and keeping track of every instrument and piece of
equipment used.

"I would do: Time patient in the room. Time patient on the
table. Anesthesia started at this time. The time of the first incision,"
she said. "And then when they would start to close, I had to count
everything."

The operation couldn't end until every item was accounted for,
down to every single sponge—even if it meant, as she once did, getting down on
her hands and knees and searching under the operating table to find it.

Dual Career

In 1989, she said, "I started getting restless. I just wanted
to do something else. I knew a bunch of people that were at UM law school. …
Actually, we went to the law school, and I sat in the back of the room. They
didn't say anything. They let me do it. And I said, 'I think this is very cool.
I think I want to do this.'

"The next thing I know," she said, "I'm a law
student."

Manno Schurr kept working as a nurse and as a clerk at a law firm
steps from the Flagler Street courthouse.

"I went to night school, and I had a job Saturday and Sunday
that I worked from 7A to 7P" in the ICU units at local hospitals, she
said. "I went to school at night."

After Manno Schurr graduated, she said, "It took me a couple
of years to get a job." When she did, her years of experience in hospitals
paid off.

"I got a lot of work doing medical malpractice," she
said. "That's what people wanted me to do."

In 1996, she left to form a general civil litigation practice with
her husband. In 2004, she ran for county court and lost. She ran again for
circuit court in 2006 and won.

"I loved being a nurse," she said. "I loved being a
lawyer. Now I'm here, and I love it. I'm very happy."

Still, she kept her nursing license active until just a couple of
years ago, and she keeps her nursing honor society pin in her chambers. And she
said her years of nursing still pay off in the courtroom, in more ways than
one.

"I've been in every division. I started off in dependency; I
went to criminal and civil. When I was over there in civil and I was trying a
medmal case and the doctor was testifying on the stand, it was great because I
knew everything that was going on," she said.

Now in the family division, Manno Schurr said: "Everybody
who's on the bench, all of us, we bring to this job all of our experiences in
life, and it makes you a better judge. I think that being a nurse gives me a
lot of compassion, especially in this division. It gives me a lot of compassion
for people."

On
March 25th, 2015, in a special set hearing at the Family Courthouse, Judge
Manno-Schurr interrupted my testimony while on the witness stand to notate the
court reporter‘s record saying…

Judge
Manno-Schurr: "the father (me) is
turning red in the face, yelling at me, and pointing his finger at me"Stuart
Abramson (for Petitioner), objected noting the record: "the father has been diagnosed with PTSD
your honor".

Judge
Manno-Schurr (this is why you should rethink this article) said: "Mr. Inguanzo were you in the
military?"

Petitioner
Testimony: "NO your Honor...YOU AND
THIS CASE HAS CAUSED THE PTSD ACCORDING TO MY DOCTORS"

Welcome for the first time Judge Valerie Manno-Schurr. You can find her in courtroom 2-8. She took over Judge Firtel's division. If any of you know anything about Judge Manno-Schurr please share your knowledge with our readers. She comes from Civil. She knows nothing about criminal. She has never sentenced a criminal defendant - ever. (She did shadow Judge Firtel for a few calendars). Provide her with some case law; write a legal memorandum; give her some guidance.

THE BEST JA'S THE REGJB HAS EVER KNOWN.

Welcome back to Diana Petitto. She was Judge Pineiro's JA during his years on the bench. After he passed away, she joined Judge Manno Schurr in civil. She re-joins the REGJB family. Please drop by chambers in Room 223 and say hello to Diana. She would love to see all of you.

RUNOFF: MANNO-SCHURR VS-SANCHEZ GRONLIER:

HYPHEN HEAVEN:

The totals from Tuesday night were:

Valerie R. Manno Schurr

41.13%

53,676

Jose R. Sanchez-Gronlier

33.01%

43,081

Rima Catherine Bardawil

25.86%

33,744

130,501

[Memo to Rima Bardawil: get a hypen. You were out-hyphenated.]

We sniff an upset here. We can’t pinpoint exactly why we feel it, but something inside of us says “Sanchez-Gronlier”. What a story that would be! From clerk to Judge. Mr. Sanchez-Gronlier has a lot to be proud of already, but he is clearly an underdog here, because we believe that Ms. Manno-Schurr has the money -or ability to raise the money needed- to win. But she should not rest on her laurels. Stranger things have happened.

The following is a transcript from Judge Spencer Eig’s division. (Welcome to the blog Judge Eig) Some of the names have been removed by Rumpole to protect the innocent. The transcript has been edited in that much of the proceedings have been removed. However, no words have been added. The words below are as they appear in the entire transcript that was emailed to us. The transcript was emailed to us by someone who was NOT a party to this case. We have no idea how or why they obtained this transcript.

CRIMINAL DIVISION JUDGE SPENCER EIG

CASE NO. F07-7312

STATE OF FLORIDA,

Plaintiff,

-vs-

WOODROW STARLING,

Defendant.

The above-entitled case came on for hearing before the Honorable JUDGE SPENCER EIG,

Judge of the above-styled court at the Metropolitan Justice Building, at 1351 Northwest 12th Street, Miami, Florida, 33125, on September 25, 2007…

THE COURT: Good morning to you all.

FAMILY MEMBER: Good morning.

THE COURT: Are you relatives of Mr. Starling?

FAMILY MEMBER: Yes, Sir.

THE COURT: What is your name?

FAMILY MEMBER: My name is

_________. I am his sister. That is my father, ------------, --------his baby's mother and ------- Starling, his baby.

THE COURT: Good morning, Baby. What is your name?

FAMILY MEMBER: ------ --------

THE COURT: Were you and Mr. Starling living together?

FAMILY MEMBER: Yes.

THE COURT: Mr. Starling, were you living with Ms. ----?

THE DEFENDANT: Off and on. We resided together. But the conditions of my probation I had to stay at my father's house, you know.

THE COURT: Is there a special condition of Mr. Starling's probation that he live with his father?...

THE CLERK: No.

THE COURT: Mr. Starling, you are getting old. How old are you?

THE DEFENDANT: 21.

THE COURT: You have child a there.

THE COURT: Is that your child?

THE DEFENDANT: Yes. That was my child… (there is a discussion of the defendant’s other cases and whether there is a stay away order prohibiting the defendant from living with the mother of his child.)

THE COURT: Do you want to get back to go with

Mr. Starling? Or do you want a stay away order or what do you want?

FAMILY MEMBER: No. I don't want A stay away order.

THE COURT: Anyway, Mr. Starling, we have this thing. I don't know how to describe it except for thing that our state and really our own country have established people who show they want to make a commitment to the future and be a productive member of society. This thing is called marriage. Some people all it an institution. They also call it Dade County Jail Institution. (Rumpole notes, we consider the comparison of jail and marriage to be an apt way of determining the virtues of marriage. And jail for that matter.)

It is not like that. If you indicated to me that you wanted to make a commitment to the future, that you have Ms. --- here and you wanted to make her Mrs. Starling. What is the baby's name?

THE COURT: And make a commitment to this family unit that I am seeing here in front of you, this is something I would place a great deal of respect for. I would release you today, and you know you can come back in the future and deal with whatever issues there are. You would have a lot to bring to the table. Living some place else. This is my baby mama. And this is a very loose relationship that could be here one day and gone tomorrow, you are not bringing anything to the table. I am not trying to force you. You have to enter into marriage voluntarily. And it is something you all need to discuss as a family that that is the best way to proceed. So what I am going to do today is release you on your own recognizance. I am going to temporarily add that you participate in a domestic violence class as a part of your probation. So that whatever occurred in the past, you will start to get the tools to deal with whatever situations raise without getting into trouble for it. And you know and Ms--- and your family can decide what kind of a future that you all want to have together. That is up to you all. We can come back for a charge, and we will see what is going on with that. There is, you know, a lot of people who think they couldn't get married. To get married they have to have money for a house and a big wedding and all of that kind of stuff. It is not true. It is not true at all. (Rumpole notes that Judge Eig has not been dating the same women we have dated. Money and a big house have EVERYTHING to do with marriage in our milieu.) People can make a commitment to the future and not necessarily have the whole thing all at once, but build it. Build it brick by brick. So we will set the case for report on the affidavit for October 26th. I will ROR you today. We will add the domestic violence referral, as soon as possible. And I wish you and the whole family the best of luck in the future.

Rumpole notes: Good intentions, bad execution. One cannot fault the judge for trying to impose some lifetime wisdom and experience in this matter. Lord knows the problems of absentee fathers has wrecked havoc with this generation of children. The statistics are there, check them out. BUT, there is something just WRONG with a judge releasing someone from jail, holding a probation violation affidavit over their head, telling them to return, and making sure they understand in no uncertain terms how favourably the court would view the nuptials of the defendant and the mother of his child.

There is an element of coercion present for one thing, no matter how much Judge Eig tried to avoid it. For another thing, there is an element of equal protection. Can a Defendant who lives an alternative lifestyle and is gay expect the same fair treatment from a Judge who is family oriented?

Judges who put themselves into the lives of young defendants and require them to finish high school or get a GED, and remain drug and alcohol free are doing great work. And a Judge who made inquiry about child support in a matter similar to this would also be within the bounds of propriety in nudging a defendant to meet their responsibility to their family. But in our view, despite the very best intentions of Judge Eig, we do not think it is proper for a Judge to be encouraging anyone to get married. And while we admit a healthy aversion to the institution of marriage, there are bigger issues at play here beyond our own fears of commitment.

Some say Judge (Bertilla) Soto supplants Stan (Blake) as Stan slips the surly bonds of the REGJB and slinks, slips, and slides to the Lawson center courthouse where he will sit in Family court.

Rumour has it that Judge Soto will be our next administrative judge.

A few thoughts:

Shouldn't "Family Court" be called "Ex-Family court"?

Judge Soto appears to be a solid choice. She is knowledgeable, pleasant, runs a good courtroom, gives a fair trial to both sides, and appears to be well respected by her colleagues (which quite frankly isn't something we'd brag about.)

Our inside source told us that Judge Soto got the job as Class President, err.... Administrative Judge by promising less home work and more time at recess if her class mates would vote for her. She also promised to put a soda machine in the lunchroom.

BLOGGING FROM THE BENCH

Much like the Imus contretemps, (he was fired by MSNBC Wednesday night) a “throw-away” comment about Judges blogging at work has erupted into a thoughtful conversation, on Judges, Blogging at work, and voire dire in family court.

Judge Faber started things off with a well written explanation on why he hired some of his current staff that used to work for his predecessor.

Then Judge Pinero chimed in with a thoughtful comment on Judges Blogging, voire dire, and yogurt. You can read both of the Robed Readers comments in the comments section to Monday’s post.

Judge Pinero had this to say on the issue of the propriety of Judicial blogging:

Firstly, please know that I did not decide to post under my own name on a mere whim. I thought long and hard about doing so. The Canons require I should uphold the integrity of the bench at all times--if i don't I will be and well should be in deep doo doo. Leaving aside the medium used for my comments. My comments have been directed at all times to issues, which I humbly believe, furthered the proper administration of justice--also mandated by the Canons.

Judge Pinero then threw in a clever plug for the blog, showing that he knows where his bread is buttered: Secondly, as to the medium--posting on Rumpole's blog. Where else do you get immediate and varied feedback?In the penultimate paragraph, a quote from the Bard and the Merchant of Venice by Judge Pinero was sure to win our favor as well: Lastly, believe it or not, judges are people too--when you prick us, do we not bleed? (no infantile comments, please)And finally, in the best traditions of the blog, a little fun with the readers: As an example of how the blog can be a learning experience I wish to inform some members of the criminal bar that I have decided to emend my practice and follow their and Rumpole's suggestion. While in the family division, I have decided to allow the litigators free rein to conduct exhaustive and wide ranging jury selection with no interruptions from the bench.All in all, a textbook comment.

Quantum Mechanics is never far from our mind, and as we have previously written, neither is Schrodinger’s Cat. The principle behind Erwin Schrodinger’s postulation of a possible paradox, is that in quantum mechanics, one could imagine placing a cat in a steel box (we have such thoughts over certain prosecutors and judges from time to time, but for purposes of tradition, we’ll stick with the cat) and removing it from all outside influences to the extent that at some point the state of the cat could only be described by combining possible rest states- as any measurement could not be done without the observation interfering with the experiment. The experiment envisioned a machine that when a radioactive isotope decayed, released poison gas. Under these conditions of isolation and no observation, the cat could-under the laws of Quantum Mechanics- be said to be both alive and dead at any particular moment.

Now, to solve our own little dilemma, one can imagine a Judge, safe from prying eyes in their secure chambers, either studiously labouring on an order denying our motion to suppress, or writing comments on the blog. This being the Justice Building, the JA is on a break, and the Bailiff is playing on-line poker on the computer in the chambers next door. Without any observation (assuming FDLE has removed the remainder of the bugs left over from Operation Court-Broom) our Jurist could be said to be both denying our motion to suppress, and blogging, at the same moment.

Quite a feat for a Judge who doesn’t bother to read the cases we send with the motion.

We think judicial participation on the blog is a good thing. Judges have apologized, explained, and risen in indigent defense of their actions. All helped to promote a dialogue between the parties. We agree that a Judge should not expound on the propriety of a decision of another Judge, or opine on a legal issue that may come before them. But a brief comment on why they hold 8am soundings, or conduct voire dire until 9PM might be appropriate.

And of course, Judge Pinero’s new experiment on voire dire in family court bears watching. Perhaps, he might expound on his ideas and write a scholarly article on the subject. Maybe even a book deal is in the future. In any event, no one can dispute that we enjoy his input and the blog is better off for it.

See You In Court, and not in court, all at the same time. (In theory).

Kindly consider our chart setting out the seven (7) basic
forms of or avenues to judicial accountability. These are the ways that judges
may be held accountable for judicial acts.

As you can see, there is a cluster of people in the navy
blue section for elections; the lime green section for discipline; and the grey
section for academic review. These are the areas of judicial accountability
that average Americans can or could substantially control.

Are you determined to keep or assert that control? Would you
believe that many good government advocates do little to protect or enhance
that control, even as they fight for increased judicial accountability?!?!?!

Of course, not all of us are part of academia. But we all
should be very concerned that across America, the option of judicial
elections is being quietly eliminated. To understand why average Americans
should be outraged by that development, read “Why Merit Selection of State
Court Judges Lacks Merit” by Matthew Schneider, Volume 56 Wayne L. Rev. 609
(2010)

National Forum On Judicial Accountability (NFOJA) is not on
the frontlines of judicial elections -vs- merit selection debates. But NFOJA is
one of very few groups suggesting that private citizens have a constitutional
right to oversee state judicial disciplinary processes. It is our belief that
the kind of citizen oversight that NFOJA proposes is among the rights reserved
to the people by our U.S. Constitution.

Imagine the impact of judges knowing their conduct on the
bench may be evaluated by trained, randomly selected private citizens as
opposed to judicial colleagues or other institutional actors or even
hand-picked private citizens. Such is the goal of NFOJA’s proposed “Citizen
Panels On Judicial Misconduct Act”. Such appears to be the mandate of our U.S.
Constitution’s Tenth Amendment and the rights it reserves to We the People.

You may not do most of your activism through NFOJA, but we
encourage you to join NFOJA; encourage others to join NFOJA; become an active
part of our online networks; and consider becoming an active NFOJA member.
Learn more @ http://50states.ning.com

Take Action - Stop Emotional Abuse

SHARE YOUR STORY

We always encourage all parents and extended family to share experiences of Family Court horrors, or Parental Alienation and its impact on you, your children and family. That way the ripple effect of the information and experiences shared will create positive change for other people who are affected or who may be affected in the future.

Comment anonymously, call yourself whatever you want. Email addresses are strictly confidential, and providing one is optional (but will allow you to be notified of others’ responses and to dialogue immediately if you wish). This blog was viewed over a half a million times. For the public to be aware of procedural abuses, it has to hear about them. The blog author’s own story is here. Civility is the only constraint upon your speech.

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